Since her year as Miss America 1981, Susan has performed in theatres, opera houses and concert halls all over the world. She also hosted HOME MATTERS, her own one hour series on the Discovery Channel, which ran for 12 seasons.

New York audiences have seen Susan as Alcamene

in OLYMPUS ON MY MIND and as Johanna in

Harold Prince’s production of SWEENEY TODD

at New York City Opera.  She made her operatic

debut as Adele in DIE FLEDERMAUS with the

Seattle Opera and returned the following season as

Micaela in CARMEN.

Other theatrical work includes starring roles

at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Sacramento Music Circus, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Houston’s Theatre Under The Stars, Kansas City Starlight, Ogunquit Playhouse, Dallas Summer Musicals, and the St. Louis MUNY. In those theatres, Miss Powell has been seen in roles such as Laurey in OKLAHOMA!,, Martha Jefferson in 1776, Magnolia in SHOW BOAT, Julie Jordan in CAROUSEL, Nellie Forbush in SOUTH PACIFIC, Fran Kubelik in PROMISES, PROMISES, Eliza Doolittle in MY FAIR LADY, Marian in THE MUSIC MAN, Rosabella in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, Mabel in PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Kathy in THE STUDENT PRINCE, Yum Yum in THE MIKADO, Valencien in THE MERRY WIDOW and Margot in THE DESERT SONG.

Susan played Guinevere in CAMELOT  opposite Charles Shaughnessy, toured as Irene Malloy in HELLO DOLLY, starring Michele Lee and performed the role of Sally in Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES with the Key West Pops in Key West.  Other performances include Mother in RAGTIME, Vicki in THE FULL MONTY and Md. Dindon in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and in October, 2011, a return engagement at Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars as Sarah Brown in GUYS AND DOLLS.  In 2012 Susan starred in KISS ME KATE as Lilli Vanessi/Kate with the Key West Pops, then reprised the role in a full production just months later at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA. Susan returned to the Cape Playhouse in 2013 as the leading lady in the critically acclaimed Rodgers and Hammerstein review, SOME ENCHANTED EVENING. In the winter of 2013, she played Dorothy Brock in 42nd STREET. In January 2015 she appears on a season 2 episode of BROAD CITY on Comedy Central.

She has sung with numerous orchestras, including The Boston Pops, Philadelphia Pops, Oklahoma City Symphony, Salt Lake City Symphony, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra,  The Key West Pops, The Nashville Symphony and the Tokyo Philharmonic. She can be heard on the cast recordings of Olympus On My Mind and Fifty Million Frenchman, both available on I-tunes as well as her own CD, Just In Time, which is available on this website.

In 2009, Susan and several former Miss Americas were thrilled and honored to visit troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She is also an avid hiker, runner and camper. In the summer of 2011 she hiked 125 miles of The Appalachian Trail in NH and VT.

In May of 2013, Susan married her long time companion, Richard White. Richard is a wonderful actor/singer who recently portrayed Sir Danvers Carew in the most recent Broadway revival of Frank Wildhorn’s  JEKYLL & HYDE. He is well known for his portrayal of GASTON in the Disney animated classic, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.